


Maggie's Truth

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life, Part 3 [20]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 04:38:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14036340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: have they found him yet?





	Maggie's Truth

It took three days of hellish investigation and interrogation to crack Bibbins and get a hard location on Skinner. Both Mulder and Scully insisted on being there as they searched the abandoned elementary school which, annoying cliché to Mulder, had the same address as Maggie’s house, just one city over. Turning each closet, desk and bathroom stall upside down, literally and figuratively, they happened upon him in a boiler room, chained to the wall, a bloody mess, dehydrated to the point of confusion and totally blind without his glasses. He flinched when the door broke and calling them a few names with in a whispered, growling bravado before he recognized Scully’s blur of red hair amongst the sea of invading navy blue, “Scully?”

It came out as a croaked crack of a sound but Scully recognized it and dropped to her knees, kissing his forehead quickly, “that’s from mom,” before pulling out a water bottle and holding it to his lip, “drink slowly.”

Knowing well she was right, he sipped while Mulder located bolt cutters to snip the chains and finally allow his arms to hang below his heart, get some blood back in the limbs that had been near falling asleep for days save his movements and shakes to keep the blood moving. At first batting away help, he discovered his legs wouldn’t cooperate, falling back before Mulder, unasked, put his hands under Skinner’s arms, “come on. You’ve picked me up off the ground enough, I owe you but if you hit me, we’ll be having words.”

Skinner knew this was Mulder’s worry coming out in humorless jabber but he obliged, appreciating the fact that the rest of the team stepped back, let them through without a word. Scully went first, clearing a path through people and objects until, finally, they bought him into the sun, setting light better than piercing noon, brisk breeze oddly warmer than frozen concrete, “Scully …”

Already knowing his request, she pulled something out of her vest and gently slid his glasses up his nose, “that better?”

“You have no idea.”

No one talked about that smell that surrounded him, the urine tinge, the blood metallic, the vomit sharp, putting him in the waiting ambulance, Scully climbing in while Mulder stayed behind to call Maggie, then pick her up.

“Mulder?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Call Scully before you bring her in. I don’t want her seeing me like this.”

Both his agents knew that feeling well, having kept their appearance from Maggie for years when full-scale fear would be the outcome, “I will do my best but she’s a Scully. She may push me down and come in anyways.”

“Mulder.”

“I’ll do my best.”

&&&&&&&&

Yeah, he tried his best.

And he failed miserably, Maggie giving him a look that could have melted steel and froze lava in the same breath before sidestepping past him and through the exam curtain. Not caring for either the nurse or her daughter in the way, she moved to Skinner, did a cursory glance for gapping wounds, then hugged him quickly, forehead to his in a MulderNScully move that transcended centuries and was apparently passed unbeknownst from mother to daughter, “You never have to go get coffee again.”

“I’ll never again forget it in the first place,” and they saw Walter Skinner, stoic, granite slab of an unconquerable Marine, kiss Maggie gently as a single, rouge tear escaped his bloodshot eyes.

She kissed him back, hands on his neck, “I love you, Walter.”

“I love you, too.” Scully slipped her hand in Mulder’s, watching her mother quietly until Skinner looked over Maggie’s shoulder, nearly back to business, “you were supposed to call before she came in here.”

“Apparently you’ve never tried to keep Maggie Scully from getting someplace she is determined to be.”

Maggie took each one of their faces in in turn, stopping back at Skinner, “I do not need to be protected. I can handle more than you all give me credit for.”

Scully, guilt filling her voice, “We just don’t want to worry you, mom, that’s all.”

Looking at her daughter, “I have worried about you since the day you were born and about them since the day we met,” indicating Skinner and Mulder, “I need to see you all more than you need to keep your bruises from me. You will stop treating me like I am going to break from now on.” Giving Scully a light swat to the backside, “now, go find something to eat and leave us alone for a few minutes, please.”

Never one to argue after a swat, Scully turned Mulder by the shoulders, “move it, Agent, I need something greasy.”

&&&&&&&&&&

Scully fell asleep against Mulder at the end of the hall, egg McMuffins consumed after he’d run to the McDonald’s next to the hospital and smuggled them back in with a wink and a smile at the nurse manning the front desk. The sun was well and up when Maggie returned to them, motioning them back into the room. Skinner was now cleaned up, sporting a hospital gown and wearing fuzzy hospital socks over size 13 feet, which were dangerously close to hanging off the end of the narrow bed. “Fox, dear, could you go back to the house and get some clothes for Walter? They’re releasing him in a few hours and I don’t think he wants to wear the hospital gown home.”

Having reached the point where he’d really just like to go to sleep, not caring where, he nodded slowly, “yeah, I can do that.”

Skinner looked at the pair, exhausted and frayed around the edges, “thanks, Mulder.”

“It’s fine. Are you sure you should be leaving so soon?”

“I want to sleep in my own bed, a bed I actually fit in.” Squirming as he took in Scully’s dazed, still dreaming look, “you know what. Don’t worry about the clothes, get Scully home for some sleep and I can borrow scrubs to get home in.”

Mulder didn’t have the brain cells to argue at this point, “Maggie? You okay to get him back?”

“Take my daughter home, Fox.”

Nod slight, eyes blurry, he turned Scully and guided her out the door, horizontal foremost on his mind. Instead of home, however, they headed back to Maggie’s, finding the Gunmen asleep at the counter and table. Leaving them quiet, Mulder stumbled Scully to the back bedroom and before either could remove shoes, they were out, sleeping off four days of adrenalin fueled panic, fear and frustration.

&&&&&&&

Maggie got Skinner settled upstairs before waking Frohike to help her move Langley and Byers to the living room floor, blankets abundant and pillows inviting. Once they were tucked in, she went to find FoxNDana, removing shoes, combing back hair, kissing cheeks and pulling up covers, closing blinds tight and clicking door shut.

Maggie only then went to bed herself, making sure to twist locks a second time, check window latches and before slipping under the covers beside her Walter, setting his gun on her bedside table.


End file.
